Furniture with log-cabin effects

ABSTRACT

A technique for constructing furniture articles affording logcabin effects, use being made of a hollow, three-dimensional skeleton whose profile is determined by the desired shape of the piece. Bonded longitudinally to the exposed sides of the skeleton is a phalanx of long dowels whose extremities extend beyond the edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank having a predetermined height, the bank outlining the boundary of flat panel areas on the skeleton. These areas are covered with short dowels whose inner ends are bonded thereto, the length of the dowels corresponding to the height of the bank so that the outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the ends of the long dowel extremities, giving the impression that the structure is made up entirely of long dowels.

United States Patent 1191 Salleroli [451 Dec. 24, 1974 FURNITURE WITH LOG-CABIN EFFECTS Robert Salleroli, 351 E. 84th St., New York, NY. 10028 [22] Filed: Dec. 10, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 423,246

[76] Inventor:

52 U.S. c1. 108/161 8 Primary ExaminerRoy D. Frazier Assistant ExaminerDarrell Marquette [57] ABSTRACT A technique for constructing furniture articles affording log-cabin effects, use being made of a hollow, three-dimensional skeleton whose profile is determined by the desired shape of the piece. Bonded longitudinally to the exposed sides of the skeleton is a phalanx of long dowels whose extremities extend beyond the edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank having a predetermined height, the bank outlining the boundary of flat panel areas on the skeleton. These areas are covered with short dowels whose inner ends are bonded thereto, the length of the dowels corresponding to the height of the bank so that the outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the ends of the long dowel extremities, giving the impression that the structure is made up entirely of long dowels.

7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures FURNITURE WITH LOG-CABIN EFFECTS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to articles of fumiture and construction techniques therefor, and more particularly to articles which are formed by dowels to create log-cabin effects.

In the fabrication of conventional pieces of furniture, such as tables and the like, the pieces are constructed of solid slabs, legs, braces and other wooden elements which are shaped and joined together to create the desired form. In some instances, in order to embellish the form, the exposed faces thereof are covered with a layer of tiles, shells and other decorative elements to produce mosaic or tesselated surface effects. Furniture articles made in this fashion do not and are not intended to give the impression that the piece is made entirely of tiles or whatever other decorative elements are used, for the. exposed surface is clearly a veneer or fa cade overlaying a basic furniture form.

In order to avoid this veneer effect and yet obtain the impression of a piece made up of a multitude of interconnected elements, use is sometimes made of butcher block. This material, which is constituted by laminated blocks of wood, originally had a strictly utilitarian function but is now being cut and shaped to create articles of furniture. The difficulty with solid butcher block structures is that the pieces are ponderous and difficult to handle, and the furniture design possibilities thereof are very limited.

Along similar lines is furniture created to produce log-cabin or block-house effects. In the original log cabin, the edifice walls are formed by logs stacked one above the other, the exposed surface of the walls having a corrugated appearance because of the roundness of the logs. The ends of these walls are also exposed and present the circular end faces of the logs.

1 It is possible to simulate log-cabin effects in furniture pieces by means of tight clusters of wood dowels bonded together to create phalanxes which are arranged in a desired furniture configuration. But the resultant structure is massive since it is of solid wood, and yet it is essentially weak for it-depends on the bonding agent to hold it together. While the structure may be strengthened with reinforcing rods, these impair the appearance of the piece and also add to construction costs.

By log cabin effects, as applied to furniture, is not meant furniture pieces which have the general appearance of a log cabin'or a block house, but pieces which may be in any useful furniture form, such as a table, a

chair or an etagere'whose visible faces are defined by the longitudinal and end surfaces of clustered round rods or dowels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION tractive.

More particularly it is an object of the invention to provide furniture articles in which log cabin effects are created by phalanxes, tight clusters or arrays of wooden dowels, which articles, though appearing to be made entirely of such dowels, have a concealed hollow skeleton serving to reduce the weight of the piece and to impart structural strength thereto.

A significant feature of the invention is that though the piece seems to be made entirely of long dowels, most of the dowels are actually quite short. Because the eye of the observer is deceived, the invention involves a trompe loeil effect.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a technique for creating furniture pieces in a great variety of forms all of whichpresent log cabin effects, so that the same technique may be used to create almost the full range of furniture items, including end tables, chairs, shelves and bookcases.

Briefly stated, these objects are attained in a technique according to the invention involving the steps of first constructing a hollow, three-dimensional skeleton whose profile is determined by the desired shape of the piece to be made, the skeleton being constructed of flat panels which are contoured to establish said profile and are joined together to provide a self-supporting rigid frame of high strength. Bonded longitudinally to the exposed sides of the skeleton is a phalanx of long dowels whose extremities extend beyond the'edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank having a predetermined height, the bank outlining the boundary of flat panel areas to whose surface there is bonded the inner ends of a cluster of short dowels. The length of the short dowels corresponds to the height of the bank, whereby the outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the ends of the long dowel extremities, giving the impression that the structure is made up entirely of long dowels.

OUTLINE OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of the invention, as well as other objects and further features thereof, reference is made to the following detailed description to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a table in accordance with the invention producing alog-cabin effect.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the skeleton incorporated in the table shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a section taken through the table.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a table in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one section of the skeleton of the table shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of another embodimentof a table in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 7 is a view of the skeleton for one leg of the tube shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of a table in accordance with the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown an occasional table according to the invention, the table having a U-shaped formation defining a longitudinal top surface 10 and a pair of vertical side surfaces 11 and 12, the junction of the top and side surfaces being bevelled. The entire structure appears to be made of an assembly of relatively long rods or dowels having a circular cross-section to produce a log-cabin impression. Because of the round dowels, open spaces exist at the junctions thereof. But actually, as will now be explained, most of the dowels forming the table are quite short, the nature of the structure being such as to produce a trompe loeil effect.

As shown in FIG. 2, the dowels, which in practice may be made of birch or any other natural or synthetic wood-like material of good quality, are bonded either edgewise or endwise by a high grade glue,epoxy adhesive or any other bonding agent to the surfaces of a three-dimensional skeleton, generally designated by numeral 13. The skeleton for the table is formed by a pair of U-shaped frame members 14 and 15 produced by contour-cutting a flat sheet of plywood or similar panel material. The frame members are interconnected by rectangular plates also cut from plywood sheets, such as plates 16 and 17, to create a hollow skeleton whose profile conforms to the desired configuration of the table. The plates and frame members may be joined together by adhesive, pegs, screws or other suitable means capable of firmly holding'the parts together to produce a strong inner core for the table.

Bonded longitudinally to all of the exposed outside and inside surfaces of skeleton 13 is a phalanx of identical long dowels'l8 whose length is somewhat greater than the side dimensions of the skeleton, the long dowels being so placed that the extremities thereof at either end extend somewhat beyondthe edges of the skeleton (i.e.', 1 inch). The overhand of the extremities of the phalanx of long dowels creates a protective bank which outlines the boundaries of the flat panel areas in the end faces of the skeleton.-

The bounded panel areas (see FIG. 3) are covered with a cluster of identical short dowels 19 whose length is equal to the height of the bank formed by the long dowel extremities, the inner ends of the short dowels being bonded to these areas. As aconsequence, the exposed outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the exposed ends of the long dowels,creat ing the illusion that the entire structure of the table is fabricated exclusively of long dowels.

Thus the three-dimensional skeleton is sheathed and fully concealed by the long and short dowels whose longitudinal axes are all parallel to each other, and while the skeleton serves as a strong underlying core, its existence is not evident.

These construction principles for producing a table are applicable to numerous other furniture forms. In all cases, the piece is composed of an inner skeleton whose profile is appropriate to the desired form, the skeleton being'covered with longitudinally bonded long dowels whose extremities extend beyond the edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank outlining the boundaries of flat panel areas to which are end-bonded short dowels whose outer ends are coplanar with the ends of the long dowels.

Thus as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, one may create a pedestal table having a ziggurat-like fonnation composed of three tiers of progressively larger size. For this purpose, each tier is formed by a box-like skeleton, such as skeleton 20, the sides of which have a phalanx of long dowels 21 bonded longitudinally thereto. The extremities of these long dowels extend beyond the edges of the skeleton to define the boundaries of a panel area which is filled with a cluster of short dowels 22. The three stacked tiers are bonded together to form a unitary structure of high strength. In practice, a similar table may be made with only two tiers or with three or more tiers.

In the table shown in FIG. 6, the table top 23 is supported by four column-like legs 24, 25, 26 and 27 which are laterally attached to the comers of the top, the upper end of the columns being somewhat higher than the upper face of the top.

In order to create the top, the dowels are bonded to a box-like skeleton similar to those shown in FIG. 5. To create columns which also have a log-cabin appearance, the skeleton thereof, as shown in FIG. 7, is formed by a pair of plywood discs 28 and 29 held together by a cross-bar. 30. Bridging the discs and longitudinally-bonded thereto are long dowels 31 whose extremities extend beyond the edge of the discs to form a bank outlining face areas to which short dowels 32 are bonded. Thus each column appears to be made of a tight cluster composed entirely of long dowels of the same length, when in fact most of the dowels are short dowels.

In FIG; 8, the table is composed of a large column 33 having a circular cross section from which projects a curved ledge 34. Both the column and the ledge are constructed by means of a cylindrical skeleton of the type shown in FIG. 7 covered by long and short dowels. Thus column 33 seems to be made entirely of long dowels running the full height of the column and ledge 34 appears to be composed of long dowels running the full height of the ledge.

While there has been shown and described preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that many changes and modifications may be made without, however, departing from the essential spirit of the invention.

I claim: I

1. An article of furniture having a predetermined shape and exhibiting log-cabin effects, said article comprising:

A. a three-dimensional skeleton formed'by at least one pair of spaced flat panels in parallel relation which are contoured and are joined together to create astructure whose profile conforms to the shape of the article,.the spaces between the edges of the contoured panels defining the sides of the skeleton, thesurfaces of the panels defining the faces of the skeleton,

B. a phalanx of long dowels longitudinally bonded to the sides of the skeleton, the extremities of the long dowels extending beyond the edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank outlining the boundaries of panel faces, and

C. a cluster of short dowels covering said panel faces, the inner ends of said short dowels being bonded to said faces, the length of the short dowels being equal to the height of the bank whereby the exposed outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the ends of the bank to give the impression that the article is composed entirely of long dowels.

2. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said short dowels have a length of about one inch.

3. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said skeleton is formed of plywood.

4. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said long and short dowels are all composed of birch.

5. An article as set forth in claim 1, including a section having a rectangular shape formed by a box-like skeleton whose sides are covered with long dowels and whose faces are covered with short dowels.

6 configuration, said table skeleton being formed by a pair of U-shaped frame members formed by contoured pieces of plywood and rectangular panels interconnecting said frame members. 

1. An article of furniture having a predetermined shape and exhibiting log-cabin effects, said article comprising: A. a three-dimensional skeleton formed by at least one pair of spaced flat panels in parallel relation which are contoured and are joined together to create a structure whose profile conforms to the shape of the article, the spaces between the edges of the contoured panels defining the sides of the skeleton, the surfaces of the panels defining the faces of the skeleton, B. a phalanx of long dowels longitudinally bonded to the sides of the skeleton, the extremities of the long dowels extending beyond the edges of the skeleton to form a protective bank outlining the boundaries of panel faces, and C. a cluster of short dowels covering said panel faces, the inner ends of said short dowels being bonded to said faces, the length of the short dowels being equal to the height of the bank whereby the exposed outer ends of the short dowels are coplanar with the ends of the bank to give the impression that the article is composed entirely of long dowels.
 2. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said short dowels have a length of about one inch.
 3. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said skeleton is formed of plywood.
 4. An article as set forth in claim 1, wherein said long and short dowels are all composed of birch.
 5. An article as set forth in claim 1, including a section having a rectangular shape formed by a box-like skeleton whose sides are covered with long dowels and whose faces are covered with short dowels.
 6. An article as set forth in claim 1, including a section having a cylindrical shape formed by a skeleton composed of a pair of spaced discs held together by a cross rod, the long dowels bridging the sides of the section and the short dowels covering the faces thereof.
 7. A table as set forth in claim 1, having a U-shaped configuration, said table skeleton being formed by a pair of U-shaped frame members formed by contoured pieces of plywood and rectangular panels interconnecting said frame members. 